If anyone asks Clark where he got shot, he'll just say, "In Lex Luthor's office."
Excellent almost-ending, BJ. You have sustained the tension and the immediacy all the way through this excellent story. Unlike Ann, I really liked the "A-plot horribilitiness." (Didn't know that word, but I'm willing to expand my vocabulary.) Having Luthor and Trask confront each other was a brilliant touch. And Lex's megalomania would have prevented him from accepting that he couldn't defeat a squad of military-trained men with just one pistol, especially when he had no cover or any escape plan in place.
(Oh, the clicking sound Lois heard and identified as guns being cocked was probably the safeties being switched off. Trask's men would have come in locked and loaded with weapons ready to fire. I'm something of a gun nut with no weapons in the house.)
Loves that Lois is now the third-richest person in the world. Even if Luthor's assets are frozen, she'll have some access to some money. And because she's the one who started the investigation into his career, it's highly unlikely that she'll be prosecuted in any way. It would take Mrs. Cox, Nigel, and Asabi all telling the same very believable story about her to implicate her, and I can't see those three doing anything except their best to save their own respective skins.
I'm glad that Clark and Lois each know how the other feels. But I still believe that Lois needs some time by herself to regain her self-image and self-respect. Yes, she's free of Luthor's presence, but he'll always be in the back of her mind, waiting to pop up once more and psychologically disable her.
All in all, this was very well done. And I have no doubt that the final chapter will be the perfect topper to this excellent story.
